- 13 fireplaces
- 18 flat screen TV's with surround sound
- 8 bedrooms
- 9 full baths
- 2 half baths
- 13 HVAC zones
- 1 gym
- 1 "telecommunications room" with
- 1 steel-enclosed "panic room"
- 1 massage room
- 3 laundry rooms (including "concealed laundry room")
- 5 parking spaces
- 6 countries represented in the home: French limestone, Italian marble, American pine (reclaimed from a Buffalo, NY schoolhouse) as well as pine from a Pennsylvania barn, an 18th century Spanish door, a 19th century Portuguese door, and a 19th century Indian door.
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
An Embassy for a Home
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Dupont Underground Plans Unveiled
Labels: DMPED, Dupont Circle, SmithGroup, WCS Construction
SmithGroup is currently in the preliminary stages of designing an elegant new wardrobe for the currently raw and unfinished underground tunnel, and WCS Construction has signed on to build the finalized plans. Phase one will consist of 20,000 s.f. of gallery space and 20,000 s.f. of concession space (potentially a restaurant, wine-bar, and cafe). Developers expect that pending leases with a high-end restaurateur and winery of some sort will enable a loan covering three-fourth of phase one construction costs. The remaining quarter will be left to fund-raising efforts. Developers promised they "are not counting on any District financial support." Phase two will consist of an additional 60,000 s.f. of cultural space, its construction wholly dependent on the financial success of phase one and the growth of the endowment. Citing formerly rotting and now reimagined public and cultural spaces like New York City's "The High Line" (an unused elevated rail-line turned public park) and Saint-Nazaire, France's "Alveole 14" (an abandoned submarine bunker turned art-space), developers expressed their hopes of creating a cultural attraction that will even "attract international tourists from Berlin and Paris." Considering the last Dupont Underground project failed to lure their own citizens down for a lunch-time burger, it seems the difficulty of the task ahead looms rather large.
Washington D.C. Real Estate Development News
Monday, September 20, 2010
Designing to Parallel an Ocean of Achievement
For an organization rooted in sustaining the seas, relocating to a sustainable space that also trumpeted its mission, by virtue of design, was a lesson in synchronicity for global ocean conservation nonprofit Oceana, 1350 Connecticut Ave. NW, and OTJ Architects.
Jettisoning its former traditional square block building with weighty, dark interior finishes on the edge of Georgetown, Oceana opted for space in a DuPont Circle structure, completed in 1930, from a time when buildings were largely illuminated by natural light and built to utilize it. Also paramount to the organization was to have proximity to a place such as DuPont Circle (it is steps from Metro) so that employee commuting would be streamlined. Relocation, in fact, was the first step in a renovation process shepherded by OTJ project manager Lida Lewis whose design challenge was to make the 15,000 s.f. space reflect Oceana’s – with offices throughout North, Central and South America and Europe – worldwide outreach and goals. In short, both the organization and the walls that contained it needed to share an inspired identity.
“When we got in (to the new floor), it was divided into five tenant spaces that had to be completely cleared out,” Lewis said, noting it was one of those floors that had been “added to and subtracted from so many times.” With 70 employees, OTJ’s goal was to create much more of a contemporary environment where older, individual offices were largely dissolved in favor of expansive public work spaces. “Often that’s a tricky transition for a lot of groups,” Lewis observed, recalling that in the client’s previous building, much more of the staff had had private offices. In a nod to green practices - though strictly for time purposes Oceana had decided not to pursue LEED certification - low-VOC materials such as sustainably-dyed broadloom carpeting which is 100 percent recyclable were used throughout, and the organization’s older furniture was reused in the few private offices, and OTJ offered incentive for the new employee balance by providing brand new furniture for staff who went into the more public workspaces.
Where lighting was concerned, OTJ harnessed natural light for 90 percent of the floorplate. Occupancy sensors, fluorescent fixtures and some LED lighting were also used, and “mesooptic technology” which allows light fixtures to adhere closely to the ceiling, with light spreading widely across the ceiling plane, resulted in a decrease in the number of fixtures necessary. It also afforded a gentle light below, according to Lewis, which precludes glare on computer screens.
Who Let the Fish Out
While Lewis concedes that OTJ had considered strategic use of fish tanks in the client’s office environment, the team quickly learned that Oceana’s philosophy eschews fish in captivity. As such, the design challenge was to tell the organization’s story with visuals that did not involve compromising life forms. In place of tanks, the use of elements such as light boxes and layers of curved plexiglass with translucent printed film of sea images (fish; a diver; sea grass) serve to illuminate their work, with Oceana’s internal graphics department participating in this aspect of the design. The wall behind the reception area, which uses multiple glass panes, is actually different layers of glass and glass film emblematic of the movement and transparencies of the waves on Oceana’s printed materials. A dolphin, part of their logo, appears to be jumping through these waves on the wall, and Philips Color Kinetics’ LED lighting at the top of the wall cycles through colors - which can be restricted and changed by a dial next to the reception desk – so that like the ocean, the display is not static.
In order to express and perpetuate Oceana’s evolving mission and accomplishments to staff and visitors, graphic displays on “pucks” or “stand-offs” – one-inch in diameter square rods an inch tall that support plexiglass, sandwiched together, in which to display photographs, articles, awards and the like– punctuate the space. The major focal point for this “living story” is the seating lobby adjacent to the reception area, and also throughout the public corridor which is the Connecticut Avenue façade. According to Lewis, for the most part these displays are also not static and can be changed and updated as the organization embarks on its many undertakings and achieves its many goals. “It keeps things fresh,” she affirmed.
In tandem with the current trend for organizations to sublease internal space until they are large enough and ready to utilize it themselves, and with the space itself shaped like a giant letter “A” (the upper left corner is executive suites), OTJ Architects built out these suites in the same colors - Caribbean hues - and with the same finishes as Oceana’s occupied space. In this respect, when the time comes, transitioning to it will be less about extensive additional renovation and more about simply where to place a cherished family snapshot or two.
“Clients don’t like cookie-cutter solutions,” Lewis said in reference to Oceana’s practical, sustainable though highly inventive use of its new space. “We asked the question, ‘What is it about your organization that makes it a good place to work?’, and together came up with something that really works with their identity.”
Photo credit: Chris Spielmann
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Watch Out Cosi, Panera is Coming to Dupont
According to Tobias Washington, a Building Manager for landlord PNGS Management Company, Panera will take over occupancy on June 1st. Construction and build out should take 90 days. Plans call for a space with over 100 seats inside and 35 outside. This will be Panera's first store inside the District.
Panera is seeking a local general contractor to perform the build out of the 5,088-square-foot restaurant to include a dining area, kitchen, service counters, storage space, and restrooms. The bid for the $250,000 project went out on April 13th and are due May 12th.
Washington, DC real estate development news
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Dupont Trolley RFP Pulls Into the Station
A previous RFP for the site devolved into a lawsuit that lasted long enough for (most) people to forget the tunnels existed. The newest RFP would be a lease between the District and the chosen team(s). Responses can be to develop either the entire sites (East Platform, West Platform and tunnels) or part of the site (East or West platform plus tunnels). The RFP suggests respondents consider the Creative DC Action Agenda and the Retail Action Strategy. Both planning tools seek to "stimulate creative use, support the creative economy and facilitate vital commercial areas."
Citing the desire for a "creative, yet sustainable use," the District makes it clear that projects should not come with ideas and empty coffers. "The District is not prepared to offer subsidy or financial assistance."
In February, the Dupont ANC2B submitted a statement to the DMPED that detailed their hopes for the future of the Dupont Underground. The ANC wants a development that "meets the needs of the present" without taking away to the potential for future use of the area as a transit station. The ANC added that the development needs to be safe and accessible to all DC residents and that the design should make the entrances more inviting. Referencing the likely application of the DC Arts Coalition for the Underground, the ANC indicated that an arts use would be acceptable as long as the project could demonstrate necessary funding for development and upkeep. At the end of the day, the conclusion was just about any use is better than the vacant state of the property at the moment.
The RFP has come back to the forefront, thanks in part to the Arts Coalition for Dupont Underground, spearheaded by architect Julian Hunt and the Washington Project for the Arts. Along with several other arts groups and galleries in the area, the group proposes a new gallery space below Dupont along the P Street near many existing above-ground galleries. In January the Arts Coalition indicated it would compete for the RFP when it is released; now we will see just who their competition will be.
Washington, DC real estate development news
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Unamusing Dupont Follies
Recent spurts of progress, such as approval for a planned 98-room hotel from the Dupont Circle Conservancy, have been sullied by bouts of reticence as the project team sought repeated delays in scheduled zoning and historic reviews. Fear not Dupont, something will give in the ongoing saga of N Street Follies. The Board of Zoning Adjustment (BZA) just completed a hearing on the case and, pending additional documentation and responses, will issue a decision on June 8th; the Historic Preservation Review Board (HPRB) will likely issue a decision this spring as well. Just one problem: the neighboring Tabard Inn is in a fight to the death against the planned hotel, which would allegedly diminish the quaint charm and revenue of the boutique inn.
Andrulis Janezich Architects, the latest in a series of architects to have worked on the NSF plan, presented a design that will leave the historic townhouses at their current height, but will add a five-story rear addition, bringing the building's height to 57 ft., short of the maximum height of 65 ft. The architect says the planned rear addition will not be visible from the street; though the street is not what concerns Tabard. The hotel would have a 3.99 FAR (the max is 4.0) and will occupy 87% of the lot.
An Office of Planning (OP) staff report indicated that the "mass is broken up by a 2,400 s.f. interior courtyard, which is enclosed with a glass curtain wall," and recommended approval. The Tabard team naturally challenged the helpfulness of the courtyard from the perspective of the street. But since originally filing an application, the team has reduced the number of parking spots from 98 to 58 and may be compelled to reduce that number further by the BZA. NSF argued that the proposed design has been scaled down and designed "with the Tabard in mind," though comments from BZA members trended toward skepticism on that score. Ultimately, the NSF team pointed to approvals by the OP staff report and the HPO staff report, suggesting that the BZA follow suit.
Represented by Arent Fox, the Tabard argued that the height of the proposed building, especially the rear addition, would dwarf the neighboring inn, blocking natural light to the outdoor dining area, parts of the indoor dining room and to guest rooms facing the new structure, making some "unrentable." Citing business concerns, Jeremiah Cohen, the General Manager of the Tabard Inn, said that the outdoor patio with its diffused natural light is a unique wedding venue; wedding business is about 15% of hotel's total revenue. Not to mention the lost customers and guests thanks to construction noise and dust should the project be approved. At least one BZA member noted that just because the NSF plan does not max out the allowable height and density does not mean the design is deferential or compatible with neighboring structures.
The BZA review was full of courtroom-style drama without the suspenseful sound effects of Law and Order (though it could have used some after more than a dozen hours of testimony). A June decision date, however, may not resolve anything. HPRB will likely issue a decision in May, but if BZA in denies the application, a new design may have to go back for HPRB review all over again. This battle might end, but the war is likely far from over.
Washington, DC real estate development news
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Restaurant and Lofts Coming to Heart of Dupont
FORM will add a partial sixth story and bump out several floors of the historic structure, expanding the 7,300 s.f. space into an 11,000 s.f. mixed-use development. The Dupont Conservancy concerns forced a change to the set back of the sixth floor, originally planned to be 30 feet, now expanded to 52 feet to avoid visibility from the street and nearby intersections, leaving only the issue of the sidewalk canopy. Though already in place, the Conservancy requested that it be removed, and with that caveat gave approval to the height and massing.
The lofts will likely be 1,800 s.f. condo units on the third through sixth floors. In order to provide additional square footage, the third through fifth floors will be extended 12 feet to the rear. The design also calls for an elevator, which will have to be concealed from street level with any necessary equipment. Dario Davies, CEO of MasterBuilt and Principal at FORMDesign, said the group is currently negotiating with several interested restaurateurs to take the spot on the first two floors.
The HPRB approval expected this week will cover the height and massing, then its on to the remaining design and permitting, a process that could take another 6 months. With Davies expecting an 8 month build-out, the project could be ready by early next year.
UPDATE: A new rendering has been added to the story as of 03/01/2010.
Washington, DC real estate development and retail news
Friday, February 12, 2010
Beneath Dupont, A Renaissance in the Making
Monday, November 16, 2009
Hotel Follies Continue in Dupont Circle
Thursday, July 23, 2009
How to Hide a Six-Story Office Building in Dupont
Labels: Creaser O'Brien Architects, Dupont Circle
Is it possible to hide a six-story office building on an historic street in Dupont? Two Queen Anne style rowhomes in Dupont are one step closer to having a six-story structure built behind them. Today the Historic Preservation Review Board (HPRB) consented to plans presented by Creaser O'Brien Architects with the caveat that the building must not be visible when standing in front of a building across the street. If something goes wrong - HPRB will demand a top floor hair cut. Eek.
The two Dupont rowhomes, 1820 and 1822 Jefferson Place NW, have long been in use as office space and are currently connected internally. The planned addition is designed to appear as a unique structure behind the two existing structures. Among the concerns raised in the HPRB staff report was the 26 feet the new structure will rise above the roofs of the original structures, the other is the proposed removal of the original brownstone stair in favor of a retractable stair with a lift in order to provide accessibility.
First, the height issue. The HPRB has a standard by which additions are allowed in historic structures if the structure is subordinate to the original structure or, in some urban areas, if the structure is separate from or behind the existing structure and can be hidden from view. One such exception was granted on the same street in 2005, and the staff report applied these same standards to the proposed project at 1820-1822 Jefferson. The architects altered the planned height as measured from the curb from 67 feet to 65 feet inches. The board passed the recommendation to adopt the staff report with the caveat that the architects do more to refine the design aspects of the planned new build, which was described as minimalist and too modest.
When the HPRB refers to an element slated for removal as a "character-defining feature," you've got problems. Proposed removal of the brownstone front stairs faced competing priorities of accessibility and historic preservation. Board members were unwilling to accept the proposed plan to remove the original stairs and decided to defer the decision until other accessible options could be found. Namely, the potential of having a lift at another location onsite that had been previously altered and therefore would not have a historic effect.
Finally, the board passed a plan to require the group to perform renovation work on the existing historic buildings, feeling this was a fair request given the "monumentality" of the proposed structure. Whoa, six-stories; NYC is rotfl at that one. Proposed renovations include installing a more historically accurate replacement door and providing more green space in the public area in front, in keeping with the appearance of the neighborhood.
Monday, July 06, 2009
K Street Think Tank Seeks PUD Approval for New Scott Circle HQ
Labels: Dupont Circle, Hickok Cole, NCPC, Rhode Island Ave.
The influential DC think tank purchased the commercial parking lot at 1616 Rhode Island Avenue, NW - formerly the site of a Gramercy Inn just off of Scott Circle - from Gould Properties in 2007 with the intent of constructing a new 130,000 square foot HQ to replace their aging K Street office space. Though CSIS has had to pursue $100 million plus of revenue bond funding from the District to fund the project, their purchase did come with one positive upshot. Gould had previously secured Stage I PUD approval for the site, leaving the CSIS' designated development team free to move on the project's design phase.
Since that time, Hickok's initial designs have taken a minor shave - resulting in the loss of 16,000 square feet worth of floor area and 12 of the original 90 parking spaces. At the same time, it has gained a green roof (in the hopes of achieving a LEED silver certification) and will still top out at 9-stories. CSIS' original timeline remains in place for a 2012/2013 completion. The project previously won approval from the DC Zoning Commission just last week.
With their new glass-faced HQ up and running, the former K Street defense industry influence peddlers will neighbor another prominent non-profit of a decidedly more liberal bent, the Human Rights Campaign - which should make for interesting, inside-the-Beltway bedfellows at the local Starbucks.
Friday, May 01, 2009
N Street Hotel Prolongs the Agony
This week, NSF was back before the DC Board of Zoning Adjustment (their fifth appearance in two years) to request several variances for the project. Once again, the Board postponed their hearing, this time until October. According to ANC 2B05 Commissioner Victor Wexler, the BZA hearing is just the latest in an eternity of changes and stay requests that Bender and company have wrangled out of the system.
“It’s been going on for many years and I just walked into it,” said Wexler. “I don’t know what this Bender wants, but he’s been turned down by the Federal Court, he came back on appeal and now they want an extension. It’s beyond me…I think Bender would like it to go on forever, so he doesn’t have to pay taxes.”
And The Washington Post agrees. According to that outlet – which in 2006 described Bender as “a litigious developer” and “not a man who likes to negotiate” – the hullabaloo surrounding the N Street site is, in fact, based on Bender’s contention that the District has overvalued the property and charges him a tax rate far in excess of its intrinsic worth. It can't help the District recently raised its tax rate on vacant property from 5% to 10% of the appraised value; according to DC tax assessment records, they're currently valued at $12.5 million. In 2004, he told the Washington City Paper, he wasn't even sure if they had ever been added to the city's vacant property registry.
“What difference does it make?” said Bender. "The bills come in, they get paid.”
Perhaps to prove a point, NSF consequently let the six historic buildings at the site lapse into disrepair over the past decade. Since purchasing the century-old buildings for $8 million in cash in 1988 and finally vacating the final tenants from the 1755 N Street Apartments in 1998 (reportedly by slashing the tires on the last remaining occupant's car), next to no upkeep has been performed on the properties – leading to a 2005 citation for “demolition-by-neglect” from the DC Board of Condemnation for Insanitary Buildings and the site’s inclusion on DC Preservation League’s 2007 list of Washington’s "Most Endangered Places."
"They're not endangered," Bender told the Post following the site's inclusion on the list. "I maintain them." In the same article, he laid blame for the delays afflicting the project at the feet of "unreasonable preservation protections." Nonetheless, the buildings' windows were subsequently boarded up.
But while the properties themselves have seen better days, that hasn’t stopped NSF from continually tweaking their redevelopment plans. Said Bender at a January 2006 BZA hearing:
We were going to [do] an office building [and] apartment house and that didn’t receive too much acceptance. We then have been working on it and have come up with doing a hotel…After going to the ANC and the Office of Planning and hearing all the negative comments, I went back to the architects and said…what can we do?…So we cut the building back from 117 hotel units to 77. We cut the garage to 96 from 127 and minimized whatever issues would be questionable by anybody.The reduction of the scope of the project, however, hasn’t put its critics to bed. Over the past two years, the Dupont Circle Conservancy, the Historic Preservation Board, the local ANC and host of area businesses and office tenants - including the Tabard Inn, Science Services Inc., United Auto Workers, the Penn Art Ladies, the Middle East Institute and Johns Hopkins University – have all voiced their disapproval of the planned hotel's design scheme. In the meantime, NSF has traded up architects for the project – from JSA Inc. to HAA Architects – and legal counsel. Only after the project’s next BZA appearance this coming October 13th will we know when (and if) N Street will be seeing ever being seeing a new hotel.
For what it's worth, the N Street "folly" is one of the numerous legal battles Bender has immersed himself in over the years. In 2006 alone, he was engaged in two concurrent lawsuits. The first against Independence Federal Savings Bank, where, as the majority shareholder, he waged an unsuccessful take over the District-based financial institution. In the second, he was drawn into a bitter dispute with residents of Northwest's Palisades neighborhood - including former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan and his wife, NBC News correspondent Andrea Mitchell - when he sought to build thirteen "mansions" on thirteen acres adjoining Chain Bridge Road. For one of the few times in a conflict-studded career, he lost. Said Mitchell of her opponent: "[He's] a developer with the deepest of pockets and no sense of community obligation."
Friday, November 07, 2008
The Washington Hilton Gets Nod to Expand
Labels: Beyer Blinder Belle, Canyon-Johnson, Dupont Circle, Lowe Enterprises, Rhodeside and Harwell, Washington Hilton
Beyer Blinder Belle Architects & Planners LLP have been tasked with designing the addition to what is consistently designated one of the Washington area's more aesthetically challenged edifices (up there with Dulles Airport's Jetsons-influenced terminal). Their design will “echo its curvilinear form” – although it will be comprised mostly of glass, in contrast to the Hilton’s concrete-on-concrete facade. According to documents submitted to the HPRB, there is no firm start date for construction, but work on the Hilton is described as “a multi-year project that will occur in phases so that the hotel can continue in operation as the work proceeds.” The cost is expected to total more than $100 million.
In addition to construction, several other elements of the hotel will be renovated. Landscape architects Rhodeside & Harwell will be redesigning the hotel pool, courtyard and residential terrace, while the hotel’s 110,000 square feet of meeting and conference will undergo a dramatic reconfiguration and possibly see the addition of a new restaurant and coffee bar. Parking will also undergo a shift as a new entrance/exit to the residential garage is installed along T Street NW. The residential addition is expected to be sold as condominium units.
Prior to last week’s approval, the project – and the prospect of a massive construction project along Connecticut Avenue, blocks from Dupont Circle – was predictably quick to draw the ire of local citizens associations, including the Kalorama Citizens Association, the Dupont Circle Conservancy, and the Dupont and Adams Morgan ANC, all of which have cited almost-certain complications relating to the project’s bulk, design scheme and traffic.
“Apparently, under zoning law they’re allowed to have some additional amount of FAR [floor area ratio] – which we’re disputing,” said Matt Forman, Executive Vice President of the KCA, whose organization has filed an appeal with the zoning board to contest the addition. “It then comes down to a question of [changing the] design. I didn’t think it was ever going to be a question of HPRB denying the entire project.”
Built in 1965, the Washington Hilton was purchased by Lowe and the Canyon-Johnson Urban Fund in May of last year for $290 million. The renovation plans were announced almost immediately afterwards. Paris Hilton could not be reached for comment.
Washington DC commercial property news
Thursday, August 09, 2007
Residential Units for Hilton Washington?
Labels: condo, Dupont Circle, Hilton, hotel, residential
Harmar Thompson, Senior Vice President of Lowe Enterprises said developers are in the process of doing the initial schematic design and massing. He added, “We haven’t formalized anything yet; we are going through detailed work with the community and the Office of Planning.” According to Thompson, more details, including a decision on condos vs. apartments and number of units, will be announced in September.